Penn, Sans Teller, Plays Coach House Tonight With Comedian Steven Banks : Rock: It’s music, not magic or comedy, that has pair barnstorming the country before going back to their regular roles.

The street is quiet and tidy, the house quaint and tasteful. But the man emerging from the front door--sporting wild hair, black leather jacket and T-shirt depicting ‘50s bondage queen Betty Page--is none of these things.

He is Penn Jillette, the larger (6-foot-6) and louder half of popular magic/comedy team Penn & Teller. “Steven said to try and convince you this was my house,” he says in his booming, slightly gravelly voice, “but I knew you wouldn’t go for that.”

For now, Jillette has left magic and silent partner Teller behind to join comedian Steven Banks (the real owner of the house) on a barnstorming one-week rock ‘n’ roll tour that puts in at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano tonight.

So just what are the pair doing dabbling in music? Jillette good-naturedly turns the question into an accusation: “The question is not, ‘What are you doing?’ The question is, ‘What do you think you’re doing? What the hell do you think you’re doing?’ ”

Banks, star of the Showtime cable TV special and soon-to-be-series “Home Entertainment Center,” describes their efforts as “funny songs about serious subjects”--everything from gun control to thrift-store shopping. The pair have been making music together for about a dozen years: “I met him on his honeymoon, which goes to show you what kind of a stud he is. He’s meeting people on his honeymoon,” Jillette says.

The two hit it off famously. “We had remarkable things in common,” Jillette says. “We both knew all of Dylan’s lyrics, all of Lou Reed’s lyrics, all the Sex Pistols’ lyrics, and neither one of us had ever done a drug in our lives. Not even so much as a puff of marijuana.

“I want you to find two other people who fit into that category--who really know edgy, evil rock ‘n’ roll inside and out and who never did any drugs.”

Banks plays guitar, Jillette plays bass. Both sing (“Well, I scream. Steven sings,” Jillette says). The two, living on opposite coasts, play together whenever their paths cross, usually at back-yard barbecues or in one-night stands at rock and comedy clubs. But Banks wanted to give the musical partnership more of a shot.

So he made a bet with Jillette (something to do with the real last name of rock star Bruce Springsteen, but neither party would elaborate).

“I had the feeling that it was a sucker bet, but the stakes were interesting,” Jillette says. “If I lost, I would do a week, a full week, of gigs with Steven, playing bass--no magic, no overt comedy. . . . And, we would rehearse for a full week beforehand, which is the hard part of the bet.”

(For the record, if Banks had lost the bet, the pair would have auditioned for “Man of La Mancha” at the Covered Wagon Dinner Theater in Jillette’s hometown of Greenfield, Mass.)

So Banks and Jillette, joined by two female back-up singers, rehearsed in the garage of Banks’ Glendale home before opening their six-date tour Saturday in San Diego. They have also played one night in Malibu, one in Redondo Beach and two in San Francisco.

The set is mostly originals, with a few covers and one parody, a reworking of the 1967 Peter, Paul and Mary hit “I Dig Rock And Roll Music”, a tune both profess to admire.

“We decided that it had to updated, so we changed it to ‘I Dig Guns N’ Roses,’ ” Jillette said. Sample lines: “I dig Guns N’ Roses, those tattooed boys from L.A./They got a good thing going when the words don’t get in the way/When Axl Rose is singin’ that rock ‘n’ roll right wingin’/I get so glad I’m not black or gay.” The song also takes a shot at the timidity of MTV.

Other songs include the thrift-store ditty “I Wear the Clothes of the Dead,” a paean to the first Beatle drummer called “Song for Pete Best” and an Elvis Presley musing that actually ends on a touching note, “Who Killed the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll.”

On other songs, the avidly pro-science Jillette takes a shot at Shirley MacLaine (he calls her a “crack dealer of the soul”) and looks at twisted relationships in “Clearly Unhealthy”--the kind of relationship where “you’re so over the top that you write her name in cigarette burns across your chest.”

The tunes take a decidedly comic look at sometimes dark subjects, but Banks and Jillette are wary of the comedy music label. “Steven and I are funny guys, and the way we express ourselves is comedicly,” Jillette says. “When people think comedy music, they often think Weird Al Yankovic, but once in a while they should realize that Lou Reed has real strong jokes.”

Banks and Jillette cited Loudon Wainwright III, Jonathan Richman and Randy Newman as songwriting heroes who often take a humorous tack. “I’m afraid for actual songwriting skills, we may be sliding a bit toward Weird Al Yankovic, but we aspire to Randy Newman,” Jillette says.

And what about the shows? Are people paying good money to see two guys on a lark, indulging a rock ‘n’ roll fantasy? “I have no doubts whatsoever that people who come to the show will really enjoy it,” Jillette claims. Although it’s “not really a serious music endeavor,” he adds, “I think you can do really good stuff that’s really fun.”

When the Banks/Jillette shows were announced, Penn & Teller breakup rumors began to surface. But after this week of gigs, Jillette plans to take a little more time off (he says this is his first vacation from magic in five years) before he and Teller develop a new show and take it on the road through 1991. He also plans to continue with another occasional musical project, Bongos, Bass and Bob, which recently scored some success on the college radio charts.

Banks is working on turning his “Home Entertainment Center” stage show and cable TV special into a regular series, to be produced by Walt Disney Studios.

As for the music, there are no definite plans beyond Thursday’s Coach House gig. “I don’t know where it’ll go. Both of us have connections enough that if there’s something really good here, it’ll be found quickly,” Jillette says. “Who knows what we’ll end up doing--’Banks/Jillette, the World Tour.’ ”

Banks and Jillette play tonight at 8 at the Coach House, 33157 Camino Capistrano, San Juan Capistrano. Tickets: $13.50. Information: (714) 496-8930.